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Robert Taylor Art, Skyfall, Church Lane, church lane (2026)

31/12/2024

‘BEACH HEAD STRIKE FORCE’ (1991)

Vought’s distinctive gull-winged F4U Corsair was without doubt one of finest piston-engine fighters of all time, and few would dispute its claim to be the best carrier-borne aircraft of the Second World War. And whilst Corsairs served with distinction with the British, New Zealanders and later with the French, the F4U will always be best remembered for its Pacific operations in the hands of U.S. Navy and Marine Corps pilots.

Originally published in 1991 the limited edition print remains one of Robert’s most sought-after pieces. With all his unmistakable elements, the canvas sings to the roar of Pratt and Whitney engines as a gaggle of F4U Corsairs make a low-level strafing run on the lookout for ground targets in support of landings in the Marshall Islands in early 1944. Below them a Japanese AM6 Zero lies decaying on the sandy beach, the victim of an earlier aerial contest whilst, in the distance, American naval vessels bombard enemy positions as landing craft bring the invasion force ashore.

‘The island scene is largely accurate, although I added a few of my own touches to suit the composition; but whatever I changed can’t have been of consequence because a U.S. Marine came up to me at a reception at Tamsen Munger’s gallery in Fresno, California and said: ‘Robert I landed on that very beach. You’ve painted the island just as I remember it, except I think you’ve put in too many palm trees!’ He then presented me with a piece of coral from the island which he’d picked up all those years ago.’ – Robert Taylor Air Combat Paintings VIII, 1996

Framing by Aces High Gallery

29/12/2024

‘JV-44’ (1987)

In the entire history of fighter aviation there has never been a combat unit like JV-44. Commanded by a General, its pilots were made up, without exception, of high scoring, highly decorated fighter aces, flying an aircraft so advanced that its technology was revolutionary. In its brief life during the dying months of WWII it wrote its own short passage in history. As the Allied Forces drove inexorably towards Berlin, General Adolf Galland formed the new JV-44 wing to operate the Messerschmitt Me262 twin jet fighter in a last-ditch effort to stem the tide. The combination of mercurial leadership and advanced fighter aircraft became a magnet towards the Luftwaffe's elite, drawing a host of colourful high-scoring fighter pilots together for a 'last fling' in combat, flying the new jet fighter.

So brilliant was the collection of pilots Galland recruited that the Knights Cross was referred to as the squadron 'badge'. The combination of skilled, experienced pilots, and an aircraft vastly superior to anything else in the air, gave the squadron immediate success. Robert Taylor's limited edition print does superb justice to this unique and historic fighter wing, bringing to life again Adolf Galland's unique Squadron of Experts as they dive into attack at over 900km per hour.

‘Combat aircraft are in reality never the flawlessly painted machines that the carefully airbrushed technical illustrations would have us believe. Even when they are brand new, body panels are often slightly uneven, pinched where the rivets hold them to the airframe, and of course the more action an aircraft sees, the more the dents, bumps and paint chips become prevalent all over its bodywork. All this becomes accentuated when the sun reflects off the paintwork, and to make the point I have carefully inserted a certain amount of wear and tear in the fuselages of the Me262s of JV-44 as they come slanting out of the sun.’ – Robert Taylor Air Combat Paintings Volume II, 1991

27/12/2024

‘EAGLES PREY’ (1991)

In the months that followed Dunkirk, the RAF stood alone against the might of the Luftwaffe and the massed forces of Germany preparing to invade Britain. While America anxiously watched events from afar, some 240 American pilots made their way to England to volunteer to fly for the RAF in the herculean struggle against overwhelming odds. These brave young volunteers even formed their own squadron – the Eagle Squadron – who helped shape the course of the war in Europe.

Motivated by the urge to fight for the cause of freedom, a swashbuckling sense of adventure, and a pure love of flying, this happy band of warriors set standards of courage, skill and fortitude that today are legendary. They were the American Eagles.

Released to commemorate the formation of the Eagle Squadrons, their first aerial combats and their top-scoring achievements, Robert’s superb painting features Mk Vb Spitfires of No. 71 Squadron as they race low across the French countryside after combat with Luftwaffe fighters in 1941. Lying prey to the Eagles is a Me109 brought down during the dogfight, the lead Spitfire pilot clearly seen glancing down at his victim as the group dashes for the Channel and home.

15/12/2024

‘STING OF THE BLACK TULIP’ (1997)

Legend has it that the moment a Russian pilot saw the Bf109 with the distinctive Black Tulip painted on the nose, he would know who the pilot was and radio his colleagues with a warning that the world’s most-feared fighter Ace was on the warpath and their best chance of survival was to depart the scene quickly and without contest. That Ace was, of course, Erich Hartmann who, in just over 2½ years, scored 352 aerial victories to easily become the top-scoring Ace in history. It is a feat unlikely to be replicated.

Robert’s portrayal of this legendary Pilot depicts the 7 August 1943 as the Ace scores the first of seven victories in a day.

Unsurprisingly the Limited Edition prints sold out on the day of release in 1997 and has remained in constant demand on the secondary market ever since.

‘The Me109 is a fascinating aircraft visually, though, in my eyes, it can’t match the Spitfire for pure aesthetics, it has a certain beauty, the fascination perhaps lying in the slightly menacing appearance that somehow is missing in the Spitfire. Where the Spitfire seems almost too graceful a machine to go to war, the Me109 has all the appearance of having been built for the purpose.’ – Robert Taylor Air Combat Paintings Volume IV, 2000

13/12/2024

‘LANCASTER UNDER ATTACK’ (2000)

December 1944: An RAF Lancaster of 626 Squadron takes evasive action as a Bf110 G-4 night-fighter makes a potentially deadly pass beneath the bomber during a raid over Osterfeld in the heart of Germany.

‘Painting night scenes is always a challenge. There is never really quite enough light to illuminate everything an artist wants to show, so one of the first jobs with a painting such as ‘Lancaster Under Attack’ is to plan where all the light will come from. After working out the basic concept of the painting, which was to feature two principal aircraft in combat, I pondered whether to light the aircraft mainly from above or below. During bomber raids at night there was always a fair amount of light from the fires and explosions below, and this was a possibility I thought about for a while. But there were two problems here: the topsides of aircraft are always more interesting than their undersides, and the lighting from beneath would have made it difficult to show much of the important detail of both planes; and to use fires as the principal source of light would have given the painting a predominance of warm colour, which I didn’t want.

I settled for moonlight. In fact the moon does not show in the painting, but the reflected light on the cockpits, and the upper surfaces of the aircraft, and also the cloud tops, indicates exactly where the moon is, and this gave me the colder light I was looking for.’ – Robert Taylor Air Combat Paintings Volume V, 2005

11/12/2024

‘HOME AT DUSK’ (1992)

It’s winter 1944 and the snow has brought a special quiet to the English countryside in the late evening twilight. As dusk gathers P-51 Mustangs sprint for home bearing the scars of the day’s battle; soon the tensions of aerial combat will be forgotten for a few hours, melting into an evening of camaraderie. Tomorrow will be a new day.

Robert’s classic Masterwork depicts this life of extremes lived to the full by a special breed of men who flew this iconic fighter as the Allies pushed for victory in Europe during the final stages of WWII. Tough, supremely confident, determined, and gloriously brave; it was an era that belonged to them and an era that is immortalized by Robert’s spell-binding artistry.

‘There is a wonderful freedom about painting the landscape which contrasts sharply with the accuracy and detailed work required when painting aircraft and wartime airfields.

Much of the time I spend painting each aviation picture is concerned with the background areas of the canvas, often more time than is necessary for the aircraft in the picture. As the painting evolved I, too, am continually studying, evaluating, and tinkering with the areas of secondary interest. As part of this process I will often mask off part of the canvas, leaving visible only the small section that I am working on, thereby creating a small cameo of its own. In this way I satisfy myself that each section of the painting ‘works’ on its own, and find the routine invaluable in my efforts to paint what I describe as ‘complete’ pictures.’ – Robert Taylor Air Combat Paintings Volume III, 1996

09/12/2024

‘NIGHT HUNTERS’ (1993)

Messerschmitt Me110 night-fighters climb into a darkening evening sky to intercept an incoming raid of heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force.

‘I can recall in my mind to this day the magnificence of that sunset viewed from the cockpit as we rose into the air. Away to the west the multi-hued spectacle of the sun’s golden-red orb sinking into the ocean was quite unforgettable.

My thoughts and my gaze, however, were soon drawn back to the reality of our mission. Our task was to combat the continuous bombing raids on strategic and tactical targets as part of the preparations for the forthcoming invasion.

For me, Robert’s painting brings back all the familiar senses experienced by those of us who know what it is to fly, senses that are never to be forgotten: the noise of aero engines, the wind of the propellers, the smell of fuel, and above all the camaraderie that exists between all with a love of aviation the world over.

Robert Taylor’s artistic inspiration gives those of us fortunate to have survived air combat a reminder of those days of aviation.’ – Major Martin Drewes, pilot of Me110 destroyers and one of the Luftwaffe’s top night-fighter pilots.
Robert Taylor Air Combat Paintings Volume IV, 2000

07/12/2024

‘RANGERS ON THE RAMPAGE’ (1995)

Robert's painting dramatically brings to life a Mosquito attack on a German fighter station deep inside Germany. Arriving over the target at little above hangar height, the two-ship mission announce their arrival by raking the field with cannon and machine gun fire. Within seconds both aircraft have scored direct hits with their 50lb bombs, and before the defensive flak guns can get the range, the pair have departed for home.

‘The buildings in the foreground were, as one would expect of a military base, very regimented in their layout, and I had some difficulty with them throughout the painting. They were always going to be prominent, but it was important that they didn’t dominate the foreground. To this end I painted the horizon on a slight angle, which means that the buildings appear off the perpendicular and so don’t catch the eye quite so readily. The main façade of each building has three storeys, each having twenty-seven windows, nine of which were dormers in the roof. Painting the barracks took forever!’ – Robert Taylor Air Combat Paintings Volume III, 1996

05/12/2024

‘THE DOOLITTLE RAIDERS’ (1999)
At 8.20am on April 18, 1942, just four months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a small force of B-25 Mitchell bombers under the command of Col Jimmy Doolittle, undertook one of the most remarkable air raids of WWII. The Raiders’ orders were anything but simple: fly low level some 800 miles over water into Japanese territory without es**rt, attack targets in Tokyo and nearby, then, with insufficient fuel to return, fly towards China until they ran out of fuel, bail out and, finally, try to evade capture.

Every man knew the danger and Robert’s celebrated painting sets the scene as the Raiders leave the target area. The pilot drops lower to hug the landscape and opens the throttles as they head west. With luck the next stop is China!

‘By portraying the aircraft as they entered this final, possibly most perilous phase of their mission, I felt that I might be able to catch something of the poignancy of the moment, and convey to the viewer the awesome nature of this unique mission.’ – Robert Taylor Air Combat Paintings Volume IV, 2000

03/12/2024

‘ACES ON THE WESTERN FRONT’ (1993)
The ancient Norman monastery on Mont St. Michel provides the majestic backdrop as a group of Me109s race across the coast returning to their forward base in northern France after a fighter sweep across the English Channel in early 1941.

During the spring of 1941 almost all of the great Luftwaffe fighter leaders duelled across the English Channel on a daily basis with RAF Fighter Command. But the Abbey of Mont St Michel has seen it all before: built by the Normans on a solid rock of granite rising 250 feet out of the sea, this ancient monastery has witnessed conflict over almost a thousand years. It now plays backdrop to Robert’s iconic painting.

‘While the aerial battles raged above, the French people were having to come to terms with the awful reality of N**i occupation, their lives interrupted day and night by the constant activity of aircraft and the comings and goings of troops in their towns and villages; nevertheless they continued as best they could. My painting aims to show something of this situation, and I painted the beach scene in front of one of the most historic landmarks on the French coast, Mont St Michal, to place emphasis on the wartime phenomenon.

My youngest son Richard modelled for the boy in the painting, and the two men were real fishermen from the Cornish fishing port of Looe which my family and I visited regularly… all three are looking up at the Me109s as they roar overhead. The young French boy is no doubt excited by the sight of low-flying aircraft, too young to appreciate their significance.’ – Robert Taylor Air Combat Painting Volume III, 1996

01/12/2024

'MAPLE LEAF SCRAMBLE '(1996)
Robert skilfully portrays Hurricanes of No 1 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, in a typical Battle of Britain scramble. Becoming operational at Northolt in August 1940 they served with great distinction throughout the Battle of Britain.

‘The squadron had arrived from Canada in 1940, complete with its own Hurricanes, pilots and ground personnel, and commenced battle training virtually as the air fighting went on around it. On only its second operational patrol in mid-August, its gritty young pilots brought down three Dornier bombers and damaged three more. The squadron continued to engage the Luftwaffe formations over south London till the end of the battle when, depleted, it as amalgamated with No 401 Squadron.

The painting measures only 18 x 12 inches, which is a small canvas by my usual standards; however even in small paintings I always aim to produce ‘complete’ pictures. In spite of the small area of the canvas to work with, I have managed to include plenty of detail in the picture.’ – Robert Taylor Air Combat Paintings Volume III, 1996

25/11/2024

CLIMB TO ATTACK (2023)

Forming part of the special edition book and print portfolios for Robert’s Air Combat Paintings Volume VII, CLIMB TO ATTACK shows Hawker Hurricanes from 501 Squadron as they re-form and climb hard to re-engage the enemy at the height of the Battle of Britain, summer 1940. Just moments earlier they have made a successful pass diving through a formation of Luftwaffe bombers heading up the Thames Estuary.

Robert Taylor Art

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